Veterans Day thoughts...

“Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?” Grandpa replied, “No, but I served in a company of heroes.” (Richard Winters) from the Jack’s Wining Words Blog on Veterans Day. I don’t often think about my time in the service (Army) or the year that I spent in Viet Nam. That was a long time ago and I have moved on with life; however, Veterans Day always has lots of stories in the news about vets from various eras and wars, so that experience gets pushed to the front of mind once a year.

I have often told people that there is more truth to the old TV series M.A.S.H. than most realize. Even in Viet Nam, while the war raged in the “the bush”; there were quite a few fairly humorous things going on back on the bases. I served with an Army construction Group at the Battalion and Group levels in posts like Quang Tri, Phu Bi and DaNang (likely all three spelled wrong). Our guys would go out every morning to rebuild roads and bridges and the Viet Cong would come out every night to blow them up. It was perhaps a small metaphor for the frustration of the entire war there.

I recall that, once my outfit got to DaNang, it was almost as if the war was somewhere else. The Base at DaNang was so large, with a huge perimeter that stretched 50-60 miles around the bay of DaNang, that life inside it on the base seemed almost normal. The beaches there are some of the most beautiful anywhere in the world, albeit, punctuated at the time by barbed wire barriers at both ends. We spent many Sunday afternoons on the beach, almost as if the war stopped for the day.

I certainly don’t want to make the entire experience sound too idyllic. I wasn’t directly involved in any firefights; but the first couple of bases that I was on would regularly come under mortar and rocket attack, so there were some dicey moments and I found that the old saying “there are no atheists in the foxholes” was true. There is something about listening to mortars walk their way towards your bunker that can add clarity to your relationship with God.

I go every year and march in the Memorial Day parade in our little town. Hundreds of people line the streets of Milford to applaud the passing soldiers and vets. It is an event that helps put some perspective on why we serve and whom we serve. It’s easy to lose sight of that in the midst of a war zone. Hopefully, if you see an active duty soldier on days other than Memorial Day or Veterans Day you will take the time to say thank you for serving. It will make you and them feel better. So, thank you veterans and thank you to those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and countless other foreign places in defense of our liberty.